By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona is clicking and that was proved beyond any doubt in the 87-80 win against Khimki on the road.
Thomas Heurtel with 18 points and eight assists led Barcelona, while the duo of Ante Tomic and Chris Singleton scored 16 points each. Alexey Shved had one more big night with 27 points and six assists, but it was not enough against Barca which finished the game shooting 64% on two-pointers.
“We played a perfect game against a very athletic team which is very good in transition”, said coach Svetislav Pesic. “The key was that we improved our defense in the second half against Shved. We controlled their transition offense and if you play five against five on defense it’s more difficult for Khimki. It was very important that we controlled the long rebounds in the last five minutes.”
The game was balanced during the first half with the hosts getting a 23-19 lead after 10 minutes of play and the second period ending tied at 38.
However, things changed in the third quarter. With Chris Singleton scoring his 14th point, Barcelona got a 62-53 lead and a little bit later Pierre Oriola drilled a three to give to the guests a double-digit advantage for the first time in the game (67-56).
Khimki entered the last period trailing by eight (67-59) and with Dee Bost making a three cut the lead to five (67-62). The comeback continued and a dunk by Malcolm Thomas made it a one-point game (76-75) with four minutes left. Still, Barcelona with an 8-3 run kept its distance (83-78) and Khimki couldn’t get back into shooting distance.